Various heating devices are used in sauna rooms around the world. Typically, the heaters used for that purpose are mica heaters, carbon fiber heaters, ceramic rods, film heaters, iron heat pipes, light tubes, and so on. These heating appliances usually use 110V-130V or 220V-240V alternating current. Testing shows that this makes these heaters produce electromagnetic radiation at 30 Hz-3 GHz at 10-300 mGs (milligauss). This electromagnetic radiation has undesirable effects on the human body. Neurological effects include headaches, dizziness, pain, fatigue and weakness, insomnia and sleep disturbances, and memory problems; other effects include dry mouth, numbness, and menstrual disturbances in women. In some people, electromagnetic radiation causes increases or decreases in blood pressure, bradycardia or tachycardia, sinus arrythmia, and other cardiovascular effects. It is therefore important to reduce the electromagnetic radiation emitted within a sauna room.
Some sauna designs already address this issue. Some sauna manufacturers put two carbon fiber heaters back to back with the AC current being of opposite phase, so that the electromagnetic waves cancel each other out and reduce the overall electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sauna. However, this kind of sauna still produces an average electromagnetic radiation value that can be as high as 50 mGauss, or even up to 200 mGauss in some cases. This is partly due to the fact that it is difficult to ensure that the two paired heaters are exactly identical in their electromagnetic radiation emissions. If they are not exactly identical, the electromagnetic fields do not fully cancel each other out. Furthermore, not all sauna rooms use carbon fiber heaters—80% of all existing saunas use other technologies, such as heating pipes, mica heaters, light tubes, and other heating devices that cannot be used in this kind of design.
A need therefore exists for a low-EMF sauna room that is not limited to carbon fiber heater technology and that does not require precision manufactured heaters.